Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbite in English and in Afrikaans by Jacqueline Theologo.
It was made abundantly clear during an oversight visit this week, that the North West Provincial Department of Tourism is incapable of handling even the simplest of tasks, such as the upkeep and maintenance of the Orkney Hotel School.
The Hotel School was the brainchild of the Department of Tourism and negotiated the donation of buildings in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality area from Anglo Gold Ashanti. This is an unfunded mandate and the donated facilities include:
- West Boarding House, which consists of 58 rooms, a games room, an office, a dining hall, storerooms, a boardroom, undercover parking and a matrons’ flat.
- ABET centre, which consists of offices, ablution facilities, kitchen classrooms and a lecture hall.
- Caretakers house, which consists of a kitchen, three bedrooms, living areas and bathrooms.
The Department agreed to convert the facilities into a Hotel School and to design, develop and do the necessary alterations and refurbishments to make it fit for purpose, and to make available the necessary resources for the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings.
The Department then approached the University of Tswane to create a curriculum for a Hotel School which would have taken three years.
But after six years and R8-million spent, MEC Kenetswe Mosenogi stated during a meeting on the department’s third-quarter report that the Hotel School was not a viable idea. The Department still has no plan to use these facilities.
Despite this, the Department intends to build two Security Guard Houses and lay paving at the site throwing more money at a project that they admit is not viable.
Clearly, the Department did not think this project through before. It acquired the property, accepted responsibility, but has no plan and budget in place to utilise these donated facilities.
The properties now lie abandoned and desolate and have become a hotspot for criminality and judging by the overgrown grass and general state of neglect, it is clear that the Department is failing dismally at its mandate. See pictures here, here and here.
The DA will write to the MEC of Tourism, Kenetswe Mosenogi, to report on the reasoning behind the decision to acquire the property and these buildings from Anglo Gold Ashanti. The MEC must also report on the plans to utilise these buildings and prevent further deterioration. We will leave no stone unturned to see action taken for this fruitless and wasteful expenditure.